Savills Investment Management, the international property investment manager, has continued its investment programme into Dutch real estate with the acquisition of the AaBe Retail Park, taking its total investment commitments in the region to €100m.
The acquisition marks the third in 2015, following the purchase of a new high street retail development in Enschede and a new logistics unit in Amsterdam.
AaBe Retail Park comprises a new scheme of approximately 30,000m2 within the urban area of Tilburg, and was acquired on behalf of the European Retail Fund. It comprises three phases, and is largely pre-let to tenants including Lidl, Jumbo, Blokker and BCC. The Jumbo supermarket has already been put forward as one of the best supermarkets in the country.
The former textile factory was designed by Rijnboutt architects with much of the original factory retained, combined with the needs and requirements of contemporary retailers. The site includes landscaped public green area plus a rooftop car park for 250 cars. The developer, Rialto, will continue to provide management services moving forward.
In Enschede, the ERF also acquired a new, prime retail high street development, fully let to Mango and Dutch fashion retailer Cool Cat. The development opened earlier in 2015.
In the logistics sector, the European Logistics Fund acquired a brand new logistics unit of circa 20,000m2 in Amsterdam, let to Kuehne & Nagel, which is servicing Albert Heijn's northern distribution centre at Zaandam. The developer was Somerset.
Ian Jones, investment director at Savills IM commented: "We have been monitoring the improving Dutch economy in 2015 and believe that the Netherlands offers a compelling story in terms of the possibility to acquire prime real estate in the retail and logistics sectors at attractive prices compared with other leading western European economies. We anticipate making further acquisitions on behalf of clients in the coming months, to complement the investment of approximately €100m so far."
